Spending the Day in Ayutthaya

Last time I was in Thailand, I took the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, and since it was going through Ayutthaya, I figured why not stop and check out the ruins for a few hours.

I had heard so much about the old city and was more than excited to see them in person.

In the mid 1300s, Ayutthaya became the second capital of the Kingdom of Siam. It flourished for hundreds of years until the late 1700s when the Burmese army came in and burned the city to the ground forcing everyone who lived there to abandon their home.

As soon as I got off the train, taxi and tuk tuk drivers were hounding me to go with them and see the ruins. I found a tuk tuk driver that offered to drive me around for the next 5 hours and take me to any site that I wanted to see for the cheapest price.

I probably still paid too much, but it was so hot and humid that day that I didn’t care. I just wanted to be moving and feeling the breeze. Lucky for me my tuk tuk driver had to bail after the first site, so he called in his friend to take me around in her air conditioned car!

I was in heaven!!!

We passed so many people riding push bikes (or should I say struggling to ride). Seeing the looks on their sweat soaked faces made me feel way better about paying to be driven around.

We spent 4 hours driving around the old city, and I got to see all the best ruins.

I know I have mentioned it before, but I would give anything to have a time machine. When you see the huge prangs and monasteries, you really get a sense of how grand everything was back then. I would love to be able to see the city in its prime.

When Bangkok was built as the new capital, they tried to recreate the grandeur of Ayutthaya, but it just isn’t the same. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of amazing wats and temples to visit in Bangkok, but they don’t compare to Ayutthaya.

Where have you seen amazing ruins? Tell us about it in the comments below.